Are You Really “On A Diet”

To all who have said that they are on a diet and haven’t gotten any results. You know who you are and I’m thinking that your “diet” wasn’t up to par.

Case in point: A close friend, Danny, says he’s always weighing himself and can’t figure out why he can’t lose weight. He commits to cardio workouts 5 days a week and weighs himself everyday. Danny gets frustrated that he loses a pound then gains a pound or two within a 48 hour period. He stated he gets on the scale everyday, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day.

And then the truth comes out.. He has a chocolate chip cookie during lunch almost daily.

And on the weekends, eats almost anything he wants. Now Danny is a dear friend and wants to lose ten pounds… Can you help him???

Thanks,

Mark, Danny’s college roommate..

Danny and Mark – thank you for your efforts and your concerns. The most important part of “dieting” is to be consistent. Day in and day out, you make healthy choices for yourself. This means that you don’t have a free-for-all all weekend long, every weekend. It’s okay to enjoy some “cheat” foods every once in a while, but that should not be the norm. For example, getting into the habit of eating a chocolate chip cookie every single day at lunch is not helpful. First, you should be very mindful of the things you do every singe day. These things easily become habits, and once something becomes a habit, it’s tough to change it.

I encountered this issue a while back when I started making “healthy” protein shakes every day after my gym workout. The shakes got larger and larger, and I started adding more and more ingredients until:

It became a habit

It wasn’t about fuel anymore, it became about taste

That’s the problem when you perform an activity over and over again. It becomes ingrained and you don’t even realize it. In terms of dieting, it all boils down to CALORIES IN VERSUS CALORIES OUT. It doesn’t matter if you’re eating clean and lean all week long if you blow it by eating 10,000 calories on the weekend. Everything counts and you should count everything. Know what you’re taking in and know what you’re burning off, and if you’re dieting, make sure you’re in a deficit.

Replace that cookie habit with something helpful that will fuel your body. And, monitor your weekend food consumption. Dieting is a full time job, not just a Monday through Friday activity.